Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information reading apparatus that includes an information reading means for optically reading information, and contactless communication means for reading information stored in a contactless communication medium through contactless communication.
Related Art
In a POS (point-of-sales) system based on conventional art, a barcode affixed to a commodity product is optically read to acquire information on the commodity product. Due to the widespread use of cellular phones or smartphones, various services are widely available now, including discount services using an information code downloaded from a website or delivered through electronic mails, and payment services using an IC card. When receiving such services, a terminal for reading the information code or a terminal for reading the IC card is connected to the terminal of a POS register. The configuration of using such terminals having respective functions, however, raises problems such as of cost increase in the initial investment for introducing these terminals in addition to the POS system, or of securing the place of installation of the terminals. Such problems arise not only in the POS system but also in any system that involves reading of an information code or an IC card.
To solve these problems, it is necessary to use an information reading apparatus having both an information reading means for optically reading an information code, and a contactless communication means for reading the information stored in a contactless communication medium, such as an IC card, through contactless communication (radio communication). A patent document JP 2007-047960, for example, discloses a medium processing apparatus which is known as the information reading apparatus having the functions mentioned above.
This medium processing apparatus serves as an apparatus for reading information from a transportation ticket that is a magnetic ticket, a contactless ticket that is an IC card, and a barcode ticket that displays a barcode, and thus includes an antenna (contactless communication means) for communicating with the contactless ticket, and a barcode reader (information reading means) for optically reading a barcode. When the magnetic ticket is inserted into the slot, processing via the antenna and the barcode reader is inhibited to avoid conflict, i.e. crosstalk, with other media (the contactless ticket or the barcode ticket).
When a contactless ticket is held over the antenna, the shutter provided to the slot is closed to inhibit insertion of a magnetic ticket, while processing via the barcode reader is inhibited to thereby avoid crosstalk with other media (the magnetic ticket and the barcode ticket). When the barcode is read from a barcode ticket, the shutter provided to the slot is closed to inhibit processing of a magnetic ticket and processing via the antenna, to thereby avoid crosstalk with other media (the magnetic ticket and the contactless ticket).
When using various types of information codes, IC cards, or the like, a display means, such as a liquid crystal display, is required to be provided to notify various pieces of information resulting from reading. However, mere integration of the display means as mentioned above into a single terminal together with the information reading means and the contactless communication means may allow the display means to affect contactless communication performed by the contactless communication means. Depending on the communication conditions and the like, such integration may disable stable contactless communication with a contactless communication medium.